The Default Recommendation Scrutiny
Professionals frequently receive recommendations from parties with interests in the recommendation's adoption. The default recommendation scrutiny involves treating such recommendations as hypotheses to be tested rather than conclusions to be accepted. The professional who applies this scrutiny examines the evidence supporting recommendations independently of the confidence with which they are presented.
Recommendations arrive packaged for acceptance. They emphasize supporting evidence, minimize contrary data, and project confidence in their conclusions. This packaging is not necessarily deceptive—it reflects the natural advocacy of those who have reached a conclusion and wish to persuade others. But advocacy is not analysis, and the professional who confuses the two adopts others' conclusions without adequate scrutiny.
Applying independent scrutiny requires examining the evidence behind the advocacy. For those developing rigorous professional development strategies, default recommendation scrutiny distinguishes those who make sound commitments from those who adopt others' conclusions without evaluation. Our scrutiny framework provides examination approaches.
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